Comparison Between Changes in Serum Inorganic Phosphorus Induced by Glucose and Glucagon in Diabetics

Abstract

Summary

The effect of intravenous glucose upon serum inorganic phosphorus was compared to that of glucagon in 35 diabetic patients taken at random.

The subjects were classified in two groups according to their serum phosphate fall following glucose. In a group of 19 patients, the phosphate fall after glucose was less than 0.30 mg/100 ml, and in another group of 16 patients, more than 0.30 mg/100 ml similar to that found in non-diabetic individuals. As a working hypothesis, it has been assumed that diabetics with a normal phosphate fall are producing insulin. It was found that the group with a normal phosphate fall after glucose showed a greater fall after glucagon than the group with defective phosphate fall. On the other hand, the group with defective or absent phosphate fall after glucose also showed a very definite fall after glucagon. It would seem then that the latter substance exerts a direct effect upon serum inorganic phosphate, independent of the reactive insulin secretion produced by the glucose load. This effect is possibly related to the activation of phosphorylase which acts in the process of disintegration of glycogen through the introduction of phosphate in the bonds existing between the hexose molecules.